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JNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BULLETIN 

Issued Weekly 

^'"'- >^'V FEBRUARY 4. 191H No. 23 

lErUcrofI as sccon.I-clnss tnattor December ,,. 19,2. at the post office at Urbana, Illinois 
under the Act of August .'4, 1912. ] 



MUNICIPAL WAR WORK 



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koi! i-.R'r i-:rGi^:NK cushman. I'hi) 
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luslruclor in Political Science 

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PUBLISHEI) iJY THE UNIVERSITY Oi- ILLINOIS 

Under the Direction of the War Committee 

URBANA 



Monograph 



(OFCOlfORESsf 

WASHlMfOTOM 



D. of D. 



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(V^ MUNICIPAL WAR WORK 



Robert E. Cushman 
Instructor in Political Science, University of Illinois 

The gigantic task in \Vhich America now finds herself en- 
gaged is demanding of every individual, organization and govern- 
mental unit two things. The first is service, loyal, unstinted, in- 
telligent, efficient. The other is team-work. It is not enough to 
realize that every resource of property and energy must be put 
unhesitatingly at the nation's disposal. We must paraphrase Mil- 
ton's famous line to read "He also serves who keeps from getting 
in the way," and stand willing to cooperate to the point of indi- 
vidual self-effacement, to coordinate our activities so that fric- 
tion is avoided, useless duplication of effort is spared, leakage and 
waste and inefficiency are stopped. 

This, then, is the two-fold task of the American municipality 
in war work — to render cheerfully its utmost service ; and to ren- 
der it in intelligent cooperation with all the other agencies, great 
and small, which are putting forth their own loyal efforts to the 
same great end. It is these two aspects of municipal war service 
which will mark out the two main divisions of this paper. 

I. TYPES OF MUNICIPAL WAR WORK 

In the first place, then, what can the American city do to help 
win the war? Perhaps this question may be most easily answered 
by stating briefly what the American city has thus far done. 
Naturally, needs, opportunities and facilities for war service differ 
widely. They will vary with the size, location, racial problems and 
industrial conditions of the municipality. The city of 30,000 need 
not strive to duplicate the war activities of the metropolitan dis- 
trict of New York any more than it should content itself with 
emulating those of the country village. The following analysis, 
however, makes an effort to place on exhibition the more impor- 
tant styles and sizes of municipal war work, with the idea that the 
individual town or city may select those best suited to its own 
peculiar problems and conditions. These activities may be placed 



roughly in ten groups, each one of which warrants some Httle 
comment. 

I. Coordination of Societies and Organisations 

First, there is the task of coordinating the patriotic work of 
societies and organizations. All kinds of private groups, clubs 
and associations, social, professional, political, religious, philan- 
thropic and propagandist, are endeavoring to contribute in some 
degree to the successful prosecution of the war. Sometimes they 
are trying to do the same thing when there should be a division of 
labor ; sometimes they are attempting diflferent things when their 
energies and resources should be pooled ; sometimes they are seek- 
ing to accomplish the same end by a variety of different means. 
Many municipalities have successfully arranged for a central 
agency, a local committee or council of defense, in which these 
agencies may be directly or indirectly represented, and through 
which their efforts may be coordinated so that the multiplication 
of overhead expense, the duplication of machinery and the wast- 
ing of effort may be largely eliminated. The energies of all the 
private agencies can thus be marshaled solidly behind a communi- 
ty effort, such as the promotion of the liberty loan, in which con- 
certed action is necessary, while at other times each one can be 
assigned the particular kind of work which it is best fitted to do. 
One of the serious problems produced by the war has arisen from 
the repeated, competing, multifarious and sometimes ill-advised 
campaigns undertaken in so many cities by self-authorized per- 
sons or groups for the raising of money. One or two states have 
felt obliged to deal rather drastically with this problem, and passed 
legislation making it illegal to solicit war funds of any nature 
without first securing a permit from the state council of defense. 
It is believed that such stringent action would be unnecessary if 
in cities as well as in counties and states the patriotic activities of 
societies and organizations were coordinated by the creation of 
some central agency which could act as a sort of clearing house 
and directing force. 

2. Publicity and Education 

In the second place municipalities can make themselves most 



efficient agencies of publicity and education on matters relating 
to the war and its problems. Its work in this direction may be 
either direct in indirect. To begin with, the city may, of course, 
pay for such advertising facilities as are necessary for its work 
and which it cannot secure free of charge. But many existing 
agencies and instrumentalities may be turned to account for this 
purpose without greater expense. Streets and public places may 
be utilized for purpose of display, parade or demonstration, pub- 
lic buildings may be used for mass meetings, the schools may be 
utilized as a means of reaching parents as well as children. 
Churches, clubs, theaters and newspapers are usually willing to 
cooperate in providing effective means of publicity, if the city will 
call upon such agencies and tell them what to do. It is unneces- 
sary to discuss or even fully to enumerate the kinds of propagan- 
da which the city might well further through the various means 
just mentioned. Whether it be helping Uncle Sam to recruit men 
for the army or navy, or persuading its citizens to buy a bond, or 
raise potatoes, or cut the loaf at the table, the municipality may 
render exceedingly valuable service to the nation by acting upon 
the principle that it pays to advertise. 

3. The Mobilization of Municipal Property and Labor 

In the third place, the city may place at the disposal of the 
national interest such municipal property and such time and energy 
of municipal officers or employees as may be so utilized without 
prejudice to the work and welfare of the city. Cities have only 
begun to realize, for example, how useful the public schools may 
be made for war service. As agencies of publicity they have al- 
ready been mentioned. Municipalities here and there have found 
that school buildings are conveniently located and well equipped 
for meeting places after school hours, for various patriotic gath- 
erings, that they can be effectively utilized for headquarters for 
registration or draft, for administering relief, for assembling and 
dispatching war material or for the conducting of work among 
aliens. School gymnasiums, playgrounds and parks have been put 
at the disposal of organizations, official or private, who have 
wished facilities for military instruction and drill. Other public 

3 



buiMings have been made available in like manner. Vacant land 
owned by the city bas been thrown open for the cultivation of 
war gardens. Not only have buildings and property been enlisted 
in war service, but the municipality has in some instances set its 
officers and employees at work to the same end. With careful 
planning several kinds of work may be turned over to the police 
department without perceptibly interfering with the efficiency of 
that organization. The officer on the beat is frequently in a posi- 
tion to secure information, make inquiries and investigate condi- 
tions much more easily than any one else. The invaluable service 
rendered by the police of New York City during the hard times 
of three years ago in helping to cope with the problem of unem- 
ployment is illustrative of what may be done along this line. There 
is no reason Why the police officer in these war times should not 
secure data regar'ding unemployment, destitution, location of 
aliens and many other matters about which the municipality ought 
to keep itself informed. In short, if our cities were to make 
a careful inventory of their present resources and use their im- 
aginations and ingenuity, they would be astonished at the extent 
of the war service they could render with very little expense 
merely by this effective mobilization of their property and the 
spare time of their public servants. 

4. Employment and the Labor Supply 

A fourth form of war service open to the municipality relates 
to labor and employment. If there ever was a time in the history 
of the country Avhen there was no excuse for idleness, now is that 
time. And yet the problem of bringing together the man who can 
do the work and the job that needs to be done is not an easy one. 
One of the most common forms of municipal, county and state 
war activity has been that of trying to solve this problem of the 
distribution of labor. A free employment agency constantly en- 
deavoring to keep in touch with men available for work in war 
industries or on the farms renders invaluable service when co- 
operating with those state or national agencies which are attempt- 
ing to place most advantageously every available unit of labor. 
Such an employment bureau or labor exchange can also keep a 

4 



register of the persons who are willing to volunteer for various 
forms of war service and act as a medium between them and those 
who can effectively direct their patriotic efforts. 

5. Relief — Charities — Health 
In the fifth place, an important work can be done by our cities 
in the dispensing of needed relief, the administration of charity 
and the safeguarding of public health. First of all, the families 
of the men who are in the army and navy will frequently need at 
least temporary assistance until the national government can 
apply a permanent policy for their relief. Even more frequently 
will they need comfort and advice and guidance. Surely the city 
can do no more useful work and discharge no higher obligation 
than in rendering such aid as it can to these people. Many of the 
problems incident to the ordinary administration of public charity 
become more complex and acute under the stress of war and will 
call for special exertions and high efficiency on the part of the 
city. And, finally, at a time when the staying power of the nation 
is more than ever before dependent upon the physical vigor of its 
citizens and at a time when many of the common restraints and 
precautions are in danger of being forgotten, the municipality must 
put forth unusual efforts to see that existing health regulations are 
rigidly enforced and new measures taken to meet emergencies 
which may arise. 

6. Work among Aliens 
A sixth and most important type of war service may be ren- 
dered by many cities in dealing with aliens and the problems whidi 
their presence in our midst creates. The acuteness and complexity 
of this problem will vary greatly from place to place. In cities 
where aliens are numerous at least three forms of work may well 
be undertaken under the direction of the municipal authorities. 
First, we note certain protective measures which may be taken to 
forestall or check depredations or injurious propaganda carried 
on by enemy aliens. Of course, the national government is the 
authority which must deal with the cases of treason, espionage 
and sedition. The city may render valuable aid, however, by 
securing through its police or other agencies as accurate in'for- 

5 



mation as possible, relating to the presence of enemy aliens or the 
existence of suspicious circumstances. Should it seem desirable 
to require a nation-wide or state-wide registration of aliens the 
cities would naturally undertake the task of doing that work or 
helping with it within their own limits. 

Secondly, either directly or by coordinating the work of other 
agencies, the city may help along the Americanization of aliens. 
Suggestions, information, advice and encouragement are fre- 
quently needed by the foreigner who wishes to become naturalized. 
With the enormous increase in the number of applicants for citi- 
zenship, the need has also increased for agencies which will help 
the alien through the complexities of the naturalization process, 
and many municipalities whose foreign-born population is large, 
have rendered efficient service in this direction. 

Thirdly, some cities have established bureaus for the purpose 
of bringing about among the foreign-born — be they naturalized 
or not — a greater feeling of loyalty for the government and of 
giving them an opportunity to air their grievances and understand 
more fully why sacrifices and burdens are required of them. It 
has been true, in many cases, that the most absurd and 
erroneous ideas regarding conscription have prevailed 
among relatives of drafted men of foreign birth many of 
whom do not understand English. These ridiculous im- 
pressions turn the potential patriot into the bitterest malcontent. 
To the shame of some communities, peaceful and law- 
abiding German or Austrian citizens have been subjected to 
wholly unwarranted abuse and discrimination by persons to whom 
all Germans look alike ; and these bureaus have been able to adjust 
many such difficulties and preserve the loyalty of the man who is 
trying his best to adjust himself to the bitter fact of war between 
the country of his birth and the country of his adoption. The 
problem of the alien in time of war has vexed the nations of 
Europe and is vexing us. It must be met with firmness, justice 
and tact. A municipality may do much in a broadminded and 
sensible way to keep that problem from becoming acute within 
its limits. 

6 



/. Food Production and Conservation 

In the seventh place, no more vahiable work has been done by 
American municipalities than that designed to promote the pro- 
duction of food and its conservation. In the spring of this year, 
at the suggestion of Mr. Hoover and others, a very large number 
of our cities threw themselves wholeheartedly into the campaign 
for war garden and vacant lot cultivation. The ways in which 
municipalities aided in this work were multifarious indeed. It 
has already been mentioned that unused land owned by the city 
was thrown open to cultivation. In other cases the city either 
rented vacant land for gardens, or lent its support to secure the 
donation of the use of such lands. Some cities hired tractors to 
plow and harrow free of cost the lands which could not otherwise 
be made ready for planting, and in a few instances workhouse 
labor was employed for the purpose. Seeds were supplied at 
cost or even less, and water was sometimes supplied at half price 
for garden use. All the agencies of publicity at the city's disposal 
were put into play not only to persuade people to raise vegetables 
who had never done so before, but to put at their disposal expert 
advice, demonstration and assistance to enable them to carry out 
their good intentions. It is unnecesary to go further into detail 
regarding a matter so familiar to us all. It is enough to say that, 
largely due to the aid rendered directly or indirectly by the cities, 
the national food supply for 191 7 was substantially increased, 
while the tired business man or laborer found in hoeing beans 
and potatoes his favorite outdoor sport. Similar efforts were 
made to aid the national movement for food conservation. 
Through the schools and other agencies mi^nicipalities helped the 
food administration by urging upon housekeepers the desirability 
of preserving and canning perishable products, and of conserving; 
the supplies needed to feed the armies in the field. 

8. Distribution and Marketing of Food 

The problem of food production and conservation suggests 
the related work which forms the eighth type of municipal war 
activity, namely, the work of helping in the marketing and distri- 

7 



bution of food. This is a problem which we have not solved and 
to which the energies and ingenuity of city, state and nation will 
have to be applied. Some of the municipal efforts to cope with it 
are, however, worthy of mention. Some cities substantially in- 
creased their marketing facilities by putting at the disposal of far- 
mers and producers municipal property, under adequate regula- 
tion, for market purposes. In this way the producer and consum- 
er were brought closer together to their mutual benefit. A few 
cities have adopted plans contemplating the establishment of what 
have been called "glut" markets, in which consumers who desire 
to purchase produce in large quantities for preserving or canning 
may do so at wholesale rates. It seems clear that in the future the 
American city is going to be called upon to face more directly and 
intelligently the problem of the distribution of the food supply. 

9. Transportation Facilities 

A ninth form of war service which municipalities may render 
relates to the means of transportation. This is a problem which, 
of course, concerns more those cities or towns which are under the 
necessity of providing facilities for handling troops or war sup- 
plies. But there is no municipality which can afford to practice 
the false economy which would permit streets or roads or other 
transportation facilities to deteriorate. The avenues of traffic 
throughout the country should be kept efficient. Municipalities 
which, by reason of their location, become the centers for mobili- 
zation of troops or war supplies have taken more constructive 
measures to provide means of transportation. Registers have 
been made up of the owners of automobiles and other vehicles 
which could, in time of emergency, be placed at the service of the 
military department. Automobile squadrons have, in some cases, 
^been organized out of those who are willing to serve in this way. 
There are many things which cities may do to aid in the prompt 
and efficient movement of soldiers and supplies. 

10. Home Defense and Law Enforcement 

It remains to consider the efforts made by many cities 
to secure adequate home defense and effective law enforce- 

8 



ment. Once more the individual city will find its activities 
determined by its size, location, racial characteristics and other 
considerations. Ever since the dawn of history when armies have 
gone forth to war the duty of protecting the forsaken walls and 
firesides has devolved upon those Who, by reason of age or other 
disabilities, were not called into the active service in the ranks. 
Many American municipalities are facing just that problem. The 
result has been the organization in many places of home guards 
made up of men who are not liable to federal service. These 
home guards are organized and drilled at such times as render un- 
necessary their withdrawal from their customary occupations. 
They are a sort of emergency police force or posse comitatus, 
available for the suppression of riots, disturbances or insurrec- 
tions, and the guarding of strategic points such as bridges, tun- 
nels, water supplies or cargoes of munitions or food. In some 
instances, as in New York and other metropolitan centers, they 
have been made adjuncts of the police force ; but in other cases, 
their organization has been independent. Another measure for 
home defense has been the mobilizing and training of the police 
and fire departments for distinct war service. This has been done 
in several ways. By the organizing of police and fire reserves 
composed either of those not in active service who have had ex- 
perience or of men who are applicants for positions in those de- 
partments, the eflfectiveness of the police and fire protection 
work has been well nigh doubled in some cases. The work of 
the two departments has been coordinated. The fire department 
has been trained to render "riot service" on the belief that a 
powerful stream of water is frequently as efficacious in dispersing 
an irresponsible mob as is the machine gun, and does the work 
with less danger to human life. The prevalence of incendiary 
fires has led a few municipalities to give the power to arrest to 
firemen so that suspicious characters at the scene of conflagration 
may be apprehended with the least possible delay. Stricter or- 
dinances have been passed to control the possession and use of 
explosives ; contractors, for example, being compelled to keep 
their stores of dynamite at night under the protection of armed 
guards. 

9 



A vigorous, steady and just enforcement of the law is a 
great preventive of crime and disorder. It is needed now as never 
before. Cooperation with the federal authorities for the dis- 
covery and suppression of sedition, treason and sabotage is the 
duty of every municipality. Throughout the country and es- 
pecially near the military encampments every available means 
should be employed for the stamping out of the evils of vice and 
intoxication. No efforts made by the national government for 
the control of the moral conditions surrounding the army posts 
can be so effective as to render unnecessary all the help which the 
administrations of nearby municipalities can render. In short, 
in all these matters, no matter what the state or nation may at- 
tempt to do, on the city itself must rest a very large measure of 
responsibility for adequate home defense and protection, effec- 
tive law enforcement and vice control. 

Before leaving our discussion of the kinds of war work 
which municipalities have in the past, or may in the future under- 
take, it may be well to suggest that now, if never before, the 
American city must realize the necessity of subjecting every 
enterprise and activity to the most rigid tests of efficiency and 
economy. This is no time for slipshod work, partisan patronage, 
careless accounting and extravagance. In the city, as everywhere, 
retrenchment is the slogan. Waste is no longer merely foolish — 
it has become criminal. This does not mean that there must be a 
sharp reduction in the expenditures for necessary public work 
and the ordinary municipal undertakings. Municipal economy is 
sometimes to be judged perhaps not so much by the purposes for 
which the public funds are spent as by the value received for that 
expenditure. One of the luxuries which the American municipali- 
ty must forego, as a war measure, if for no other reason, is the 
luxury of paying its officers, its laborers, its contractors, the 
firm from which it purchases supplies, more than it receives in 
services or goods. 

II. COOPERATION IN MUNICIPAL WAR WORK 

The kinds of work which municipalities have found it possi- 
ble to do to help win the war have been discussed, perhaps at too 

10 



great length. It remains to consider briefly the methods by 
which municipal war work may be coordinated with that of 
county, state or nation. What demands are made upon the city 
in the way of cooperation? 

There are two phases to this problem of cooperation. There 
is first the problem of cooperative organization and there is sec- 
ond the problem of division of labor. 

I. Cooperative Organization 

In the first place, then, how should municipal war work be or- 
ganized and how should that organization be connected with the 
county, state, or national councils of defense ? 

There is no hard and fast form of organization. The usual 
plan has been to appoint a council, nonpolitical in character, com- 
posed of men who enjoy the public confidence and who will give 
their services in an advisory capacity. Certain city officials may 
be members ex officiis of that body, and frequently the problem 
of coordinating the war activities of private clubs or associations 
has been solved by making the heads of such organizations mem- 
'bers of the municipal council of defense. This central council will 
serve as a general advisory and directing agency for the purpose 
of outlining and coordinating the work of the committees which it 
organizes to take charge of the special kinds of work in which it 
seems desirable to engage. It is assumed that all of the persons 
appointed to the municipal council of defense or its committees 
will serve without compensation. The city itself will prob- 
ably pay the necessary expenses, although in some cases private 
generosity may make even this unnecessary. This scheme of organ- 
ization is susceptible of many modifications and may be made as 
complex or as simple as local problems render desirable. 

Assuming that the city has a satisfactory board or council or- 
ganized which may direct its war activities, the manner in which it 
can bring itself into working relations with the forces of the state 
and nation will depend largely upon the way in which the state is 
organized for war service. Practically every state in the Union 
has organized a state council of defense to cooperate with the 
National Council of Defense. 

II 



The relationship between the municipal defense councils and 
the state councils of defense is in general of two distinct types. 
First there are states in which there is direct connection between 
the state council and that of the city, without the aid of any inter- 
mediate agency. Second, there are states in which the local unit 
for war work is the county, and the municipality is regarded as an 
administrative subdivision of the county. 

Turning first to those states in which the cities cooperate 
directly with the state councils of defense we find considerable 
variation as to the scheme of organization. In the first place there 
are states in which the state council has been made large enough to 
include among its members, either active or advisory, the mayors 
of all the important towns and cities. In these cases, the mayors 
serving on the state council have naturally been able to direct 
more wisely the activities in their o-wti cities. In the second place 
the direct cooperation of municipalities with the state council has 
been asked and received even when the county or township was 
the regular local unit for war work. In Iowa and New York, at 
least, direct appeals for assistance have been made to the mayors 
of cities. In Louisiana and Iowa the president of the municipal 
league of the state is a member of the state council of defense 
and, though in neither case does he hold that office ex officio, an 
additional channel of communication is thus opened up between 
the state and municipality. In the third place, there is the quite 
unique type of organization of war service in New Jersey. In 
that state all war activities are placed under the control of the ad- 
jutant general's office with which is associated a committee of 
public safety, composed exclusively of the mayors of the state 
and working through a small executive committee. While many- 
states have councils of defense in which the officers of important 
cities have places, this seems to be the only instance in which the 
state council is composed only of city officials and on which no 
other subdivisions, interests and organizations are given represen- 
tation. 

Much more numerous, however, than these instances of direct 
cooperation between city and state are the cases where the county 
or township is made the unit for local war service. This county 

12 



form of organization has very generally commended itself to 
state defense authorities because it covers the entire geograpliical 
area of the state and brings both urban and rural districts alike 
into touch with the central agency. 

The relation between the municipality and these county coun- 
cils of defense differs from state to state. In a few cases the city 
organization will supersede that of the county. In New York 
City, for example, the mayor's committee on national defense 
controls the war activities of the five counties comprising Greater 
New York. In other cases where cities are important but do not 
swallow up the county they are given ample representation on the 
county councils of defense and may even dominate its policy 
though they do not exercise independent power. In many of the 
primarily rural middle western counties, however, the county 
council will itself control the war work for that district through 
the agencies of committees in towns or villages or in some cases 
by its own direct action. In the state of Texas the existence of 
the city is being ignored and a plan is on foot to organize, under 
the direction of the county councils of defense, subcommittees in 
every voting precinct in the county. 

The foregoing analysis indicates how many possibilities there 
are in the way of organizing the war work of a state and giving 
the municipality a place in that general program of patriotic en- 
deavor. Thus far the Illinois state council of defense seems not 
to have adopted any definite scheme of local organization. Should 
it decide to do so the probabilities are that the county would be 
made the local unit as such a plan would seem to be necessary to 
reach effectively all the districts in a state so largely rural. But 
it is hardly conceivable that any plan of organizing the war re- 
sources of the state would fail to avail itself of the services of 
such effective councils of defense as might be operating in the 
towns and cities of the state. Whether Illinois municipalities are 
asked to coordinate their patriotic efforts with those of a county 
organization or a state organization is a matter of small impor- 
tance so long as they work loyally and cooperate intelligently and 
wholeheartedly. 

13 



2. Division of Labor 

It has already been noted that while cooperation in war work 
demands efficient organization to that end, it also calls for division 
of labor between the cooperating agencies. Viewed from this 
standpoint of effective division of labor, the kinds of war service 
which municipalities may from time to time consider undertaking 
will fall into three distinct categories. First, there is work which 
the city alone should undertake or which it can effectively do 
independently. Second, there are tasks which the city must do in 
conjunction with the county or state organizations. And third, 
there are things which the city s'hould not undertake at all but 
leave to the state or nation. 

The war work which the city can most effectively do alone is 
that, of course, which relates to its own local problems or condi- 
tions, the assumption of its own unique responsibilities and obli- 
gations. By far the largest part of the service, however, which 
the municipality can render will fall in the second class of un- 
dertakings, in the doing of which it must work in effective cooper- 
ation with other agencies doing that task, or part of a task, in 
which it can best serve the great common end. Finally, there 
are a few sorts of municipal war work, entered upon with the 
best intentions and the highest motives which are rather generally 
admitted to be ill-advised. The Council of National Defense has 
urgently requested local defense organizations to postpone the 
adoption of any comprehensive plans for the permanent relief of 
soldiers or their dependents until the policy of the national govern- 
ment in regard to that matter shall have been worked out. The 
commandeering of supplies of food and coal and the fixing of 
prices should be done in accord with policies formulated to meet 
national or state rather than municipal conditions ; and there have 
been some recent cases in which well-meaning mayors and sheriffs 
have found themselves within the grip of the federal law because 
of their unauthorized seizure of supplies intended by the national 
authorities for other places and purposes. Finally, one cannot 
too severely condemn the occasional acts of a few municipalities 
whose authorities in their misguided zeal have sought to serve their 

14 



country by taking the law into their own hands. The brand of 
patriotism which confiscates land or the use of land for war 
gardens without paying for it, compels a man to buy a Hberty bond 
under threat of bodily harm or imprisonment, or in any other way 
violates the constitutional rights of the law-abiding citizen, even 
though his patriotic ardor be somewhat cooler than it ought to be, 
that brand of patriotism closely resembles the brand of justice 
dealt out by the mob in accordance with the uncivilized code of 
lynch-law. No municipality can afford so seriously to injure the 
great cause which it is trying to serve. 

Before embarking upon any form of patriotic endeavor, then, 
it is incumbent upon every city to judge carefully, in the light of 
such advice as it can secure from county, state, or nation, in which 
of these three classes just mentioned that enterprise will fall. 
Thus and thus only may it perform effectively its own peculiar 
duties, determine the things it may most efficiently do in coopera- 
tion with other agencies, and learn what it had best let alone. 
And all this to the end that its service may count for the very 
most in the winning of this great war. 

It seems to me that this is not a problem in which this or- 
ganization can afford to take merely a casual or purely academic 
interest. It is true that the Illinois Municipal League is not a 
body which can directly engage in war work with any real effec- 
tiveness. But it does not follow that there is nothing of value 
which it can do. I submit to you that there are two distinct things 
which this organization might consider undertaking. 

It might, in the first place, provide for or sponsor the making 
of a careful investigation of just what has been done by the towns 
and cities of Illinois in the way of effective war service, and what 
the possibilities in that direction are which have not been ade- 
quately developed. A report embodying these facts, coupled per- 
haps with such recommendations as a committee of the league 
might care to make would be of inestimable value to the munici- 
palities of this state by letting them know what their neighbors 
are doing and how they are doing it. 

In the second place, it seems to me that such an organiza- 

15 



tion as this might well have a committee on municipal war work 
which could put itself in touch with the state council of defense, 
suggesting its willingness to coordinate with that body in any 
effective way in which its services could be utilized. The chair- 
man of the state council of defense states that no data has been 
collected regarding the war work of Illinois cities nor have any 
plans been matured for the coordination of those activities. He 
declares that the state council would gladly welcome any sug- 
gestions which the Illinois Municipal League might make relating 
to those problems with the assurance that they would be of value 
and would receive careful consideration. 

It seems to me that in these two ways the Illinois Municipal 
League might render definite service to the cities of this state 
and to the state itself. It would at least make clear its willing- 
ness to further the great cause of the war by helping, however 
slightly, to mobihze the resources of our municipalities for the 
effective service to the nation. 



16 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



018 465 811 2 # 



HoUinger 
pH8 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

018 465 811 2 # 



HoUinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



